The Lotus Sūtra utilizes [the number of] ten dharmas to embrace all of reality [sarvadharma], i.e., all dharmas are of suchlike appearance, suchlike nature, suchlike essence, suchlike power, suchlike function, suchlike causes, suchlike conditions suchlike results, suchlike retributions, and suchlike beginning and end ultimately the same.¹³² When Master [Hui-ssu] of Nan-yüeh read this text, since they all say “such,” he [interpreted it as] emphasizing ten suchnesses.

Chih-i says that, depending on the meaning, there are three ways of reading these phrases. The first is [to emphasize their suchness]: “the suchness of this their appearance, the suchness of this their nature . . . the suchness of this their retribution.” Second is [to emphasize their characteristics]: “suchlike appearance, suchlike nature . . . suchlike retribution.” Third is [to emphasize their thusness]: “their appearance is like this, their nature is like this . . . their retribution is like this.”¹³³

First, if all are referred to in their “suchness,” this “suchness” is non-differentiated and is identical to the meaning of emptiness. Second, if one speaks of suchlike appearance, suchlike nature, and so forth, one goes beyond the empty nature and characteristic [of dharmas], constructs names and words, and makes differentiations. This is the meaning of the “conventional.” Third, if one speaks of “their appearance is like this,” and so forth, this refers to the real aspect of the middle path, which is the meaning of the middle.¹³⁴

Distinctions are made in order to facilitate understanding; therefore [the threefold truth of] emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle is clarified. If one understands the meaning and tries to put it into words, the result is [expressed as] “the identity of emptiness with conventional existence and the middle.” If one clarifies emptiness with regard to suchness, [one should say that] the emptiness of one [dharma] is the emptiness of all. If one clarifies appearances [and so forth] by going beyond suchness, [one should say that] one conventional existence is the conventional existence of all. Following this, if one discusses the middle, [one should say that] the middleness of one [dharma] is the middleness of all. It is not one, two, or three, yet it is one, two, and three. The true aspects of reality are neither horizontal nor vertical.¹³⁵

Only a Buddha can completely understand this reality. All reality is included within these ten dharmas. If one were to discuss this according to the convenience of the meaning, the meaning can be discriminated into three parts.¹³⁶ If one were to read further, the verses say, “The suchlike great results and retributions, and the various meanings of natures and appearances and so forth. ¹³⁷

132

This classification is based on the chapter on “Expedient Means” in the Lotus Sūtra as translated by Kumarajiva cr. 9, 5c11-13), which, as Hurvitz points out, is so different from the extant Sanskrit that he devotes a long note to discussing the differences (Hurvitz, Lotus Sūtra, 349-350). Hurvitz translates this section as follows: “Concerning the prime, hard-to-understand dharmas, which the Buddha has perfected, only a Buddha and a Buddha can exhaust their reality, namely, the suchness of the dharmas, the suchness of their marks, the suchness of their nature, the suchness of their substance, the suchness of their powers, the suchness of their functions, the suchness of their causes, the suchness of their conditions, the suchness of their effects, the suchness of their retributions, and the absolute identity of their beginning and end.” This is a prime example of the importance and influence of Kumarajiva’s translations for the development of T’ien-t’ai and Chinese Buddhist thought. return

133

This “triple reading” works much of course, in the original Chinese where one can merely shuffle around the order of the three characters. return

134

Thus this triple reading reflects the threefold truth. To understand reality while emphasizing its “suchness” is to emphasize the emptiness, or lack of substantial Being, of all dharmas. To understand reality while emphasizing its individual conventional characteristics is to emphasize the conventional existence of dharmas. To understand reality as it truly is, is to realize the simultaneous emptiness and conventional existence of all dharmas as the middle path. return

135

That is, neither monistic, blasé oneness nor fundamental differentiation. return

136

The three aspects of emptiness, conventional, and middle? return

137

A reference to the verse version of this section, which Hurvitz, Lotus Sūtra, 23, translates:
As to such great fruits and retributions as these,
Such varied doctrines of nature and marks,
I and the Buddhas of the ten directions
Are the only ones who can know these things.
These dharmas cannot be demonstrated;
Words, which are only signs, are quiescent in them.
 return